The turtle’s low ratio elliptical gearing ensures that minimal energy is required to set the long-lived animal in motion, while cams move the legs – which, incidentally, realistically replicate a turtle’s gait, where the animal pushes off with both rear legs while the front pair of legs catches up. The turtle’s mechanism operates in a similar way to a complication module added to a wristwatch movement. Nicolas Court and his team based in Sainte-Croix, Switzerland, developed the turtle’s mechanism so that its power comes from the singing bird’s mainspring. This incredibly complicated animal combo comprises 480 individual components and weighs in at a surprisingly hefty 1.4 kilograms. Like the silver German example above from 1975, Chirp emerges from one of the scales to sing, flap wings, move its tail, and open its beak for 10-12 seconds. ![]() ![]() Kelys is a rhodium-plated brass tortoise, whose name originates in the Greek word for chelonian reptiles (turtle, terrapin, tortoise), while Chirp is a white gold singing bird with sapphire eyes that Kelys carries in and on his back. It’s no wonder it, too, showed up in horology and automata as early as the 1600s. The turtle began appearing as a symbol of wisdom, knowledge, and longevity in the folklore of a variety of cultures as early as ancient Mesopotamia, and it persists in this role up to today with perhaps environmentalism added to its range of connotative symbols. The earliest of these types of automata can well be called “mechanical toys” and they were made for European (and later Asian) aristocracy. These were usually powered by keys, cranks, or even strings that triggered springs, which in turn powered gearing. In English, the word “clockwork” is still often used to denote mechanical, “windup” items that even include the type of toy that I remember from my own childhood. ![]() Pierre Jaquet Droz (1721–1790) was perhaps the most famous automaton maker of his time, exhibiting a rare skill that continues to permeate the horological world to this day. It is an automaton – and most automata grew from advances made in horology in the 1600s.
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